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Band of Brothers
M1 Garand
M1A1 Carbine
M1A1 Thompson Sub Machine Gun
M9 Bazooka
Colt M1911 .45 Caliber Pistol
M3 Grease Gun
M1919A4/A6 .30 Caliber Machine Gun
Browning Automatic Rifle
Mauser Karabiner 98k Rifle
Luger P08 pistol
MP40
Maschinengewehr 42 (MG-42
Adopted by Germany in 1942, in an effort to reduce the machining time and cost inherent in the production of the MG-34, the MG-42 is perhaps the deadliest machinegun used during the war. With a fire rate of 1200 rounds per minute, individual shots are mostly non-discernable. The demoralizing and pschycological effect of its very sound prompted the U.S. to make a training film for troops who would encounter it.
Unlike the MG-34, the MG-42 has a receiver made from a series of stampings, instead of the finely machined components encountered in the MG-34.
The gun is fed from a 50-round belt just as with the MG-34. These belts can be linked together for upwards of 250 continuous rounds from one can, with any number of cans in tow given the situation or position.
The gun is chambered in the 7.92X57 Mauser cartridge, the same cartridge used in the well known K98k infantry rifles, and ammunition is interchangeable, although machinegun ammunition was often slightly more powerful in order to avoid jams and run the guns mechanism more reliably.
It can be used with a fold-up bipod, or with the more complicated Lafette tripod, which could have scope-optics and remote control firing capabilities.
Its downfalls were its high rate of fire, which exhausted ammunition supplies very quickly, and this was very apparent on the Russian front, where the weather often delayed much needed supplies.
It's most effective use (as with most machineguns) was not in sweeping fire but in concentrated direct fire using the shortest burst possible, and directing these bursts over the intended area.
The MG-42 was often seen mounted on an anti-aircraft tripod for use against low altitude aircraft, and as co-axial guns on a number of different types of armoured vehicles.
In the mini-series, the MG-42 is seen multiple times, being fired from window openings in towns, and in stand-offs with the German armoured vehicles in the advance into France. Most notably, the mini-series did not fail to demonstrate or imply the demoralizing effect of the gun on U.S. troops, and this is a notable achievement for the film-makers, who added this realistic view, which before, had never been seen in such vivid detail in any previous war-film, barring of course, documentaries with actual war-time footage.